10 Things Experts Know About Whiskey That You Don't

The distillers behind Jack Daniels, Jameson, Pike Creek, and Corsair set the record straight on your favorite spirit.

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Courtesy of Jack Daniels

1. Technically, whiskey can last forever.

"If you have a bottle that is unopened and you keep it out of direct sunlight, it can be kept indefinitely," says Brian Nation, Master Distiller of Jameson Irish Whiskey. "If you open a bottle, provided it's sealed properly after use, it can stay for a very long time." The sun won't ruin the whiskey, but it will change its taste. "It effectively causes a taint in the whiskey and it would give it a musty, unpleasant flavor," Nation notes. "You could drink it, but it wouldn't taste anything like it was supposed to taste."

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Courtesy of Jack Daniels

2. Weather affects whiskey.

For instance, Pike Creek whiskey is made in southern Ontario, Canada, an area highly impacted by the proximity of the Great Lakes. The climate varies drastically throughout the year, which also causes a shift in the aging of the brand's whiskey. "We don't have any electricity in our warehouses," Don Livermore, Master Blender at Pike Creek, explains. "So whatever's going on in the external environment is going to affect what's going on in the barrel. You have these cold/warm temperature swings and the barrel expands and contracts." The effect is more air going in and out of the barrel. With Pike Creek, which is aged slightly longer than many Canadian whiskeys, this creates a green apple nuance in the flavor.

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3. Water affects the taste of whiskey as much as grain does.

The source of a distiller's water is essential when it comes to the ultimate flavor of the whiskey. For instance, Jack Daniels takes all of its water from a natural source that flows through limestone caves. America's Southeast, including Tennessee and Kentucky, is especially well-suited for distilleries because its natural water contains very little iron, which will turn alcohol black and bitter. "You're only as good as the water you make whiskey with," Jack Daniels Master Distiller Jeff Arnett says. "You can make bad whiskey with good water, but you still have to start with good water. An ideal water is cold, mineral rich, and iron free."

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Courtesy of Jack Daniels

4. There are millions of barrels of whiskey currently aging around the world.

Because of the aging process, whiskey is kept in barrels for several years by most distillers. That means that there are tons of barrels just sitting in warehouses right now. Jack Daniels currently has 2.3 million barrels aging, while Jameson has 1.3 million. Pike Creek has 1.6 million barrels, with the oldest being from 1981. Kentucky

currently has 5.7 million barrels of bourbon in storage, which is the most the

state has had since 1975. Distillers have a lot invested in these stashes and need hefty insurance to

keep them safe. Jack Daniels, in fact, owns the largest supply of fire

resistant foam in the Eastern U.S.–just in case.

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Courtesy of Jack Daniels

5. Whiskey can be made from any grain, including quinoa.

Traditionally, whiskey is made with corn, rye, and barley, but you can actually use any sort of grain. Corsair, an artisanal distillery based in Tennessee, creates pot whiskeys from quinoa, oats, buckwheat, farro, and spelt. "Whiskey is so traditional and conservative so it doesn't take very much for something to be an alternative whiskey," explains Darek Bell, owner of Corsair. "The aging process complicates everything so a lot of distillers don't want to try something new and then find out it sucks after four years." The one grain that hasn't made the cut? "For a long time we couldn't get blue corn to work," Bell says. "It just didn't taste right."

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Courtesy of Jack Daniels

6. Whiskey is clear before it's barreled.

When whiskey comes off the stills it's perfectly clear –the dark color comes from the white oak in which it's aged. According to Chris Fletcher, Assistant Master Distiller at Jack Daniels, a barrel provides whiskey with 60 percent of its flavor and 100 percent of its color.

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7. Distillers control the proof of the whiskey with various factors.

Jack Daniels begins at 140 proof and is reduced to 125 proof, the brand's standard entry proof for barreling, by adding a small amount of water. "The barrel and mother nature take over at this point," Fletcher explains. "During maturation, our brand new barrel will absorb some whiskey and also allow some evaporation. This evaporation also causes the proof to rise inside the barrel due to more water leaving the barrel than alcohol." With Jack's new Barrel Proof Tennessee Whiskey, which launched this month, the distillers don't add any water after the barreling process, which allows the whiskey to taste like it would if you tapped it directly from the barrel – and makes it especially strong.

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Courtesy of Jack Daniels

8. Whiskey doesn't have to be aged in new barrels.

By definition, Tennessee whiskey must be aged in new white oak casks and bourbon in new charred oak barrels. But a lot of scotch distillers and Irish and Canadian whiskey makers reuse those same barrels. Jameson uses American Kentucky bourbon casks as well as sherry casks, while Pikes Creek buys one-used white oak American bourbon barrels. "We're not interested in the type of American whiskey or bourbon that was matured in them before they come to us," says Nation, who estimates that Jameson buys 130,000 used casks from America every year. "We're looking for the contribution from the cask itself, which is in the sweetness of the wood."

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Courtesy of Jack Daniels

9. You can get a PhD in Brewing and Distilling.

Livermore earned his from Edinburgh's Heriot Watt University, so he is sort of a doctor of making whiskey. He only knows of one other master whiskey blender in the world – in Scotland – with a similar degree. "There may be others, but there are very, very few people with PhDs in Brewing and Distilling," he admits. "Usually people end up going into the beer side of the business. It's a very unique degree. It certainly gives an asset to the job I do every day."

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10. It's okay to put ice in your whiskey.

There is a great debate over whether dropping an ice cube in your whiskey will disrupt its flavor, but most distillers agree that you should enjoy the spirit however you prefer. "I always say 'Enjoy a drink,'" Livermore says. "It depends what your tastes are. People drink it in several different ways and when you design a whiskey you try to imagine how people may drink it. For Pike Creek, I like drinking it neat." Nation concurs, "People enjoy drinking whiskey with ice and I absolutely have no problem with anybody drinking whiskey with ice. It really depends on the type of whiskey you're drinking and how you enjoy it." For Bell, neat is generally best. "I like what the Scottish do, which is to add a little bit of water so a little of the aroma is released," he says. "But I'm a straight whiskey kind of guy."

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